Hello everyone,
I decided to write this post as a guide to anyone who would like to make an informed decision when applying for the SBI Irctc Card while comparing it with other SBI Credit Cards.
If you already have this card and have linked it to your irctc user account, skip to the below section labelled ticket booking, else continue reading.
Why you may want this card in your wallet?
This card is suitable for you only if you travel by train in AC classes. Other than this, there are plenty of cards which offer a much better reward rate depending on how you are spending your money.
However, I like this card on account of these factors.
You may apply using an agent or directly from the SBI website. You may use referral links from my signature or from any member of the forum, you feel happy to oblige. Both the referrer and the new applicant will get Rs 500.00 upon successful activation and usage of the new card.
SBI is pretty strict and if you don’t have a CIBIL score of 750+, your credit card application may be rejected.
If you are applying online, make note of the following-
After you receive your credit card, you will find your 11 digit Loyalty Number embossed on the Card. You need to link this Irctc loyalty number with your SBI Credit Card so that your Reward points get transferred to the irctc account.
If you already have an existing irctc account, make sure that the following details in your irctc account perfectly match with the Credit Card details, else you will not be able to link your card.
Before creating a new irctc account, make sure you do the following else the irctc system will throw an already registered error.
In case, you are not creating a new userid and want to link your aadhaar with your user id, then Go to Irctc home page | More | Link your Aadhaar in order to link your aadhaar to your irctc userid.
Loyalty user advantages
There are 3 main advantages of being a loyalty user –
The process is pretty simple, like you book a normal ticket. While booking tickets, you will be greeted with a Window offering details for accrual / redemption of reward points. Do not skip this window, if you are one of the travelers or if any traveler is a loyalty member.
Redemption Process
You can redeem your loyalty points for any ticket booking, even on the one on which you are not traveling. However, if you cancel this ticket, then you will lose 50% of the reward points. Make sure, that your plan is travel is final and you won't cancel it, else it will be a big loss. One Loyalty point equals Re 1.00. You need to buy the whole ticket using loyalty points and redemption using both points and money is not possible.
If you are are short of points, then can buy extra points @1.5 per point to compensate the shortfall. Add 12 more points to the ticket value for gateway charges (Rs 10 + 18% GST), to make sure, not even a single extra rupee goes to waste. 😆
In order to redeem your loyalty points, you need to generate a Transaction Password. This is different from your irctc login password. Use Forget Password, to get a reset link in your email.
Another hiccup here –
If your email-id contains a dot character, enter the email id without the dot, else the website will throw an error (this was the case, 4 years ago, maybe they fixed it now).
Grievances and Follow ups –
For loyalty account related queries contact loyaltyprogram@irctc.co.in to get proper query redressal. They know their stuff, but you can still expect some idiots sitting out there.
For SBI Card related stuff such as fee payment, gateway charges reversal, etc, use the SBI Card App. Go to More | Mailbox | Compose | Offers related issues | Others to send an email from the app and get an interaction id as soon as you send the email. It also helps to keep a record of your queries related specifically to your SBI Card.
You can also send a direct email to SBI Credit Card team using ILA Chatbot.
For queries related to train tickets, email them from your registered email id – care@irctc.co.in
If still unlucky, post a thread here, and we will definitely try to find a way out.
Thanks!!
Hit a Like if you enjoyed this!!
Ravi.
I decided to write this post as a guide to anyone who would like to make an informed decision when applying for the SBI Irctc Card while comparing it with other SBI Credit Cards.
If you already have this card and have linked it to your irctc user account, skip to the below section labelled ticket booking, else continue reading.
Why you may want this card in your wallet?
This card is suitable for you only if you travel by train in AC classes. Other than this, there are plenty of cards which offer a much better reward rate depending on how you are spending your money.
However, I like this card on account of these factors.
- The card offers a decent reward rate on all spends. You get Re 1 for every Rs 125 spent which translates to 0.8%, everywhere. However, the reward points are transferred to your irctc user account after each statement generation cycle. So, you need to use those points before they expire. The points expire after 3 years.
- SBI is pretty aggressive these days and is a front runner alongwith ICICI, Axis and HDFC with regard to cashback offers. So, that’s another good reason to hold it. This card is not excluded like the Paytm Card & Amazon ICICI Card from bank offers and is mostly valid for all SBI Card offers.
- Free access to irctc executive lounges, one per quarter. You save Rs 150-200 per visit.
- Addon cards are free for parents, spouse and children. You get different card numbers, so you can get the same benefit 3 times (when a site is giving an offer on your SBI Card and you can use your card only once).
- Fuel surcharge waiver.
- No spend based fee waiver criteria.
- Only you as a user are entitled to loyalty benefits. Other people whose tickets you may book will not get the benefit unless you enter their loyalty number while booking. So, even if you travel twice a year by train in AC classes, then you will recover its annual charges.
- There is an onboarding fee of Rs 590 (including GST) and a renewal fee of Rs 354 (including GST) every year. However, you get 350 bonus points upon card activation. There is no spend based fee waiver criteria and no bonus points on renewal.
- The irctc user account which you will use also needs to renewed every 3 years but the fee is not that much. I have not renewed it since past 3 years. It keeps on extending without fee payment, but I don’t know what holds in the days to come by.
- Addon card members do not get any loyalty benefits or irctc lounge benefits.
- No airport lounge access.
You may apply using an agent or directly from the SBI website. You may use referral links from my signature or from any member of the forum, you feel happy to oblige. Both the referrer and the new applicant will get Rs 500.00 upon successful activation and usage of the new card.
SBI is pretty strict and if you don’t have a CIBIL score of 750+, your credit card application may be rejected.
If you are applying online, make note of the following-
- Make sure you have access to the mobile phone number and email (where you will get OTPs) that is linked to your aadhaar.
- Use a Windows PC or Mac to start the application process for the Credit Card. Do not use a mobile phone.
- Register for Digilocker and pull your Adhaar and PAN into it. It is basically a government portal where you can store documents which are auto certified, since they are linked with your aadhaar id. (SBI credit card portal will grab your documents from there. You will get an option to get documents from Digilocker or upload scanned copies. Digilocker is better as it skips the verification process). I recommend you to get some basic knowledge about Digilocker before moving forward.
- When uploading Bank Documents, do not upload any scanned copy or PDF. Instead, select the option for the sbi card portal to pull the bank statement after you enter your user id and password, in your bank’s netbanking portal. The process is automated. In case, you upload scanned copies, the verification agent will probably ask you to do it again.
- While filing the application, make sure to uncheck register for SBI Health Insurance. If you forget this, be ready for 5-6 calls coercing you to buy their insurance.
- Now, since you have the application number on your phone and email, you are ready for Video KYC (verification of your application by SBI).
- An SBI registered agent will do a verification video call and ask some questions relating to you, such as place of residence, job type, annual income and the like. Make sure, you keep this data ready and accurate as per the submitted application. Write it somewhere and be prepared to give the same answer every time. There should be no deviation.
- After that, grab your PAN Card (the actual original document, copies will not work). Take a white sheet of paper and a good working pen. You may be asked to show your PAN Card and to sign on the paper during the Video KYC.
- Now leave your PC and continue on your phone.
- Make sure you have a good working internet connection.
- When looking into the selfie camera of the phone, the light source must be good. The light must be coming from behind the phone camera. Turn off the lights behind you. This will give you a clear image.
- On your phone, make sure you have notifications enabled for Chrome. Also give access to all permissions, such as Microphone, Camera, Storage or whatever is there. You may disable them after your Video KYC.
- Do not use Firefox, Brave or any other browser.
- Open Chrome on your android phone or use Safari if you have an iPhone. Visit sbicard.com on your phone and select “continue your Card Application” from there.
- Select an appointment slot to continue. Be ready for agent pickup. You may face a wait time of 10-15 minutes.
- If all goes well, the Video KYC will hardly take 3-5 minutes and you are done. The agent will let you know if your credit card application is approved or denied.
- This step is very important. Disable the junk or spam call filter on your mobile phone. Be prepared to receive a few calls from junk numbers (Unfortunately, some SBI numbers have been marked as spam by google). These calls are from SBI people who will verify your data again and again (just answer them with the same data which you gave earlier). If you don’t receive and attend these calls, SBI may reject your application. This is annoying but that is the way it is. Enable the spam filter after your receive your credit card.
After you receive your credit card, you will find your 11 digit Loyalty Number embossed on the Card. You need to link this Irctc loyalty number with your SBI Credit Card so that your Reward points get transferred to the irctc account.
If you already have an existing irctc account, make sure that the following details in your irctc account perfectly match with the Credit Card details, else you will not be able to link your card.
- Name registered in the account
- Date of Birth
- Email id
- Registered Mobile Number
- Aadhaar id
Before creating a new irctc account, make sure you do the following else the irctc system will throw an already registered error.
- In the old account, change the mobile number and email id to something different.
- In case aadhaar is linked to the old irctc user id, make sure to “release aadhaar” from that userid using the irctc portal. Use the irctc chatbot “Disha” for help.
In case, you are not creating a new userid and want to link your aadhaar with your user id, then Go to Irctc home page | More | Link your Aadhaar in order to link your aadhaar to your irctc userid.
Loyalty user advantages
There are 3 main advantages of being a loyalty user –
- You get 4% or 10% bonus reward points of the ticket cost when travelling in AC classes (other than 3AC Economy). This depends on the travel date. You can find the details on the irctc website.
- You get a reversal of payment gateway charges, on all your ticket bookings, effectively giving you a benefit of 1%.
- Free access to irctc executive lounges, one per quarter. You save Rs 150-200 per visit.
The process is pretty simple, like you book a normal ticket. While booking tickets, you will be greeted with a Window offering details for accrual / redemption of reward points. Do not skip this window, if you are one of the travelers or if any traveler is a loyalty member.
- In the Accrual section, make sure to fill your loyalty number in the passenger details and the details of other passengers who have a loyalty account, if they are travelling with you. If you miss this, forget your loyalty bonus points. Earlier, it was not necessary, but I lost some good money because of this, so I am reminding this in advance.
- Select HDFC payment gateway and then the other Credit Cards section in it while making the payment. Do not select other gateways, else you will not get gateway charges reversal. I have lost money here too.
Redemption Process
You can redeem your loyalty points for any ticket booking, even on the one on which you are not traveling. However, if you cancel this ticket, then you will lose 50% of the reward points. Make sure, that your plan is travel is final and you won't cancel it, else it will be a big loss. One Loyalty point equals Re 1.00. You need to buy the whole ticket using loyalty points and redemption using both points and money is not possible.
If you are are short of points, then can buy extra points @1.5 per point to compensate the shortfall. Add 12 more points to the ticket value for gateway charges (Rs 10 + 18% GST), to make sure, not even a single extra rupee goes to waste. 😆
In order to redeem your loyalty points, you need to generate a Transaction Password. This is different from your irctc login password. Use Forget Password, to get a reset link in your email.
Another hiccup here –
If your email-id contains a dot character, enter the email id without the dot, else the website will throw an error (this was the case, 4 years ago, maybe they fixed it now).
Grievances and Follow ups –
For loyalty account related queries contact loyaltyprogram@irctc.co.in to get proper query redressal. They know their stuff, but you can still expect some idiots sitting out there.
For SBI Card related stuff such as fee payment, gateway charges reversal, etc, use the SBI Card App. Go to More | Mailbox | Compose | Offers related issues | Others to send an email from the app and get an interaction id as soon as you send the email. It also helps to keep a record of your queries related specifically to your SBI Card.
You can also send a direct email to SBI Credit Card team using ILA Chatbot.
For queries related to train tickets, email them from your registered email id – care@irctc.co.in
If still unlucky, post a thread here, and we will definitely try to find a way out.
Thanks!!
Hit a Like if you enjoyed this!!
Ravi.
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